This invention relates to a heat exchanger-canister combination and particularly to a device of this class introducing concepts of weight reduction and high performance into its structure and heat transfer capabilities.
In the prior art, it has been suggested that a canister holding a solid state refrigerant such as "dry ice", could be used in a portable cooling system, as for example in a system flowing a liquid coolant through a suit worn for protection in a superheated or toxic environment. In such a system, the canister would be carried by the wearer of the suit and be a part of a self-contained system in which the refrigerant functions both as a power source and as a heat sink. As heretofore proposed, prior art canisters are heavy and relatively inefficient in the facility with which heat is rejected to the dry ice. Heat transfer efficiency, moreover, declines precipitously as sublimation of the dry ice progresses so that the practically useful life of the system per each charge of dry ice is unexpectedly and unnecessarily short.